The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
Here you go, folks, from the pool report, passed on to the Blend by the White House Press Office...
List of invited guests at the LGBT event in the East Room
White House LGBT Event
June 29, 2009
Administration Officials
John Berry, Director, Office of Personnel Management
Fred Hochberg, Chair, Export-Import Bank
John Easton, Director, Institute of Education Sciences at the Department of Education
City and State Officials
Jason Bartlett, Connecticut House of Representatives
Kate Brown, Oregon Secretary of State
David Dibble, Minnesota State Senator
Evan Low, Vice-Mayor, Campbell, CA City Council
Al McAffrey, Oklahoma House of Representatives
Andrew Mcdonald, Connecticut House of Representatives
Robert Meza, Arizona House of Representatives
Christine Quinn, New York City Council
Debra Shore, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Denise Simmons, Mayor of Cambridge, MA
Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona House of Representatives
Patricia Todd, Alabama House of Representatives
Lupe Valdez, Dallas County Sheriff
This is a guest post by Jennifer Chrisler of the Family Equality Council; as executive director for the organization, she attended the Presidential limited federal benefits extension signing ceremony last week. Chrisler is also one of the invitees at the White House's upcoming commemoration of Stonewall, billed by the administration as an event in the vein of its St. Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo fetes. Jennifer is here to share her view that this social gathering is an opportunity for members of the community to meet with the President and convey their thoughts about progress (or the lack thereof) and to keep open communication channels with those who can effect change.
Of course there are others who do not share Chrisler's view, and believe that the social event should be boycotted and is nothing more than a dog-and-pony show opportunity for this White House, with those attending being used as PR props. I'll give my personal take at the end of the essay.
Now -- I shouldn't have to remind anyone, but I will -- civility is key here on the Blend, particularly with content that may be polarizing. It's healthy to have spirited, cordial debate in the comments between readers, the diarists and baristas, not attacks; consider this the one and only trapdoor warning. --Pam
Movement Malpractice?
By Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of Family Equality Council
Malpractice is defined as engaging in professional wrongdoing that will result in harm.
As one of those many leaders across the country fighting for equality for LGBT families, failure to accept the President's invitation to meet with him at the White House this coming Monday would be committing "Movement malpractice."
For more years than I care to remember we have bemoaned the lack of access and the lack of progress at the federal level for LGBT equal rights. It is no surprise then that after years of toiling to elect fair-minded leaders, and with the assumption that we now have that in the White House and the Congress, we want action and we want it swiftly. When we¹ve struggled as a community for more years than we care to count to achieve equality and we believe for the first time that it is now achievable, our hopes are incredibly high. The knife of disappointment cuts that much deeper and the wounds take much longer to heal.
But that anger, justified as it may be, is no reason to stage a walk off. Time and time again LGBT people have suffered painful setbacks in our struggle to achieve equality. Giving up and walking away from the work is not an option for effective leaders. Each time, we must re-group and re-strategize for the challenges ahead. Walking away from the opportunity to meet with the leader of the free world to make our case for equality yet again would be movement malpractice on my part.
That is why I will be at the White House on Monday, commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots. I will be there in the spirit of those who stood up for themselves and all of us in June 1969. If anything, it insults those who came before us, on whose shoulders we stand, to not acknowledge the birth of the modern LGBT rights movement at the invitation of the President of the United States.
Tension continued to build over an upcoming LGBT fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee with several gay invitees planning to boycott the event and others planning to attend to voice their frustrations to party leaders.
The latest invitee to withdraw Tuesday from the event was Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. An informed source confirmed that Wolfe would not attend.
Since I know you all are waiting with baited breath, here are people who still plan to go -- and who spoke to the Blade.
But Joan Garry, a former executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said she's planning to attend to "carry a message directly to the senior DNC leadership" and say that "the controversy is about more than a group of people withdrawing from a fundraiser and it's about more than impatience."
...Brian Fricke, a gay Iraq war veteran and SLDN board member, told the Blade last week he plans to attend the fundraiser even though he was disappointed by the Justice Department brief.
...Peter Rosenstein, a gay Democratic activist in D.C. ... "My concern is that if we tell the Democrats that we are not going to speak to them and just boycott what they're doing, who are we helping?" he said. "I think we have to speak to the Democrats face-to-face and say how frustrated we are, how upset we are with what's going on and demand that they do something."
...Claire Lucas, a lesbian Democratic activist. She's not on the list of special invitees. She said she "was very disturbed" by the language in the Justice Department brief, but still planned to attend the fundraiser "to continue the dialogue our community is having with our elected officials and DNC staff" on LGBT issues such as same-sex marriage and an Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Lucas also said she planned to attend "to show support for the good acts" that Obama has accomplished in office.
The Blade will have reporters at the event to cover the rapidly decomposing affair. Let's get back to that list...
If you can't make the date, take a rain check and help anyway? SUZE ORMAN just signed on that way. ELIZABETH BIRCH signed on that way. Lots of others.
If you CAN make the date, you'll be joining the Vice President of the United States . . .
. . . along with Virginia Governor / DNC Chair Tim Kaine . . . immediate past DNC Chair Howard Dean . . . Chairman Barney Frank . . . Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis . . . Vermont Senate President Pete Shumlin . . . District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty . . . David Mixner . . . Richard Socarides . . . The Task Force's Rea Carey . . . HRC's Marty Rouse . . . ESPA's Alan Van Capelle . . . GLAD's Mary Bonauto . . . NBJC's Alexander Robinson . . . GMHC's Marjorie Hill . . . The Victory Fund's Chuck Wolfe . . . Towle Road's Andy Towle . . . Iraq Marine vet Brian Fricke (whom you may have seen on 60 Minutes) . . . Billy Bean . . . Joan Garry . . . Keith Boykin . . . Ray Buckley . . . Brian Johnson . . . Corey Johnson . . . Dixon Osburn . . . Paul Smith . . . Bruce Bastian . . . Mitchell Gold . . . Krystal Ball . . . and so many others, like YOU, who have been pushing the ball down the field for so long. (Well, Krystal is fairly new to this, but what a kick to have a pro-marriage CPA triathlete young mom running to unseat a conservative Republican in Virginia.)
It would mean a great deal to have you with us:
www.democrats.org/LGBTdinner
Did I mention that the Mandarin Oriental has a 10,400-square-foot spa?
Also passing: The National Stonewall Dems, former Co-Chair of the Obama LGBT Leadership Council during the 2008 campaign, Stampp Corbin; the National Black Justice Coalition said no board members are attending, Hilary Rosen confirmed to me today via email that she is not attending.
It's hard to have any other impression after reading this NYT piece than the Obama administration would really like to hustle the invitees to this Stonewall event through some back door, and hustle the queers back out ASAP. Look at this:
As advocates for gays and lesbians intensify their criticism of the White House, President Obama has invited some of their leaders to an East Room reception next Monday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the 1969 Greenwich Village demonstrations that gave birth to the modern gay rights movement.
The White House has not publicized the reception, and officials did not respond to e-mail requests for comment. But gay leaders from here and around the country said they had received either telephone calls from the White House or written invitations to the event, and were told Mr. Obama is expected to speak.
...Whether Mr. Obama will address the complaints at Monday's reception is unclear. One person who received the invitation said the White House was billing the event as a celebration, akin to the festive affairs the administration holds on St. Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo. Another said the invitation included an offer to bring a guest. "They want people to understand that their partners are welcome,'' said this person, speaking anonymously because the White House has not announced the event.
Nice to know while service members are being discharged, and LGBTs are losing their jobs if they come out of the closet, and couples can drive across state lines and be married/civil unions/domestic partners/strangers in the eyes of the law that the champagne will be flowing and backs will be patted in the East Room. But hey, I hope that there is a bit more solemnity and less festive glad-handing at this event considering what Stonewall was about. To refer to it as akin to Cinco de Mayo or St. Patrick's Day festivities seems pretty awful to me.
That's ok -- the $$$ won't be flowing at that DNC fundraiser.
UPDATE: Here is the official WH comment in the same piece.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesman, said, "Next Monday's event is a chance for the White House to recognize the accomplishments of LGBT Americans. Invited guests include families, volunteers and activists, and community leaders. This event was long planned as a way to applaud these individuals during Pride month."
UPDATE 2: Here's a Q of the day for you -- so if the gathering is like Cinco de Mayo or St. Patrick's day, what should the decorative theme be at the White House for Stonewall if it's supposed to be festive from their POV -- floats and circuit boys dancing on them?
Not content with just skipping the gala, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has raised the bar skyward:
Statement by SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis on DNC Event
SLDN will be outside boycotting the Democratic National Committee (DNC) LGBT event in Washington this Thursday. SLDN will be calling upon the President to end his silence on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." We will be wearing and handing out buttons with the number 265, representing the number of service members who will have been discharged this week since President Obama was sworn in. We do not, nor would we want to, dictate how members of our board or our Military Advisory Council make their political views known. However, I understand that two board members are attending the DNC event. I also understand they will be making their own spirited and creative statements once inside the room.
UPDATE: A Blender sent in the latest plea from the DCCC for your dollars. See it below the fold.
UPDATE 2: Blender Clarknt67 has created an easy-fax form to send to the DCCC. See it below the fold.
You see, this is why the Obama administration and the DNC are apoplectic about the meltdown of the upcoming LGBT fundraiser this week. Numbers rolling in for the month of May show the following:
Short version: the DNC beat the RNC last month, thanks to a Presidential fundraiser; but the NRSC actually raised more money last month than the DSCC; and the DCCC raised only about 200K more than the NRCC. While the cash-on-hand edge for the GOP is less than it was last month’s, it’s because the Democrats are still not retiring their debt, which is 4x the GOP’s.
The President himself is able to bring in cash, but given the tidal wave of the last election, the Congressional and Senatorial committees should be doing much better at this point and time. In an email discussion about the these figures, activist Lane Hudson noted to me that it's...
good for Party officials and elected officials to consider when not taking the steps necessary to win the trust and confidence of the LGBT community by delivering on promises made.
I agree that much is at stake in re-electing a Democratic Majority to Congress and ultimately re-electing the President. But I'm not willing to blindly do it and it seems there is a growing sentiment that this is the case. There must be a pathway forward that is publicly shared with the community so that we can help work to move along that path and judge the progress that is being made. Many of us are asking Democratic leadership for that pathway and I hope they will speak publicly about it very soon.
Peter Daou, on HuffPost, notes that this administration has a near-obsession with pandering to the middle for political safety's sake, and that includes LGBT rights issues.
Yes, pragmatism is admirable, but give me some idealism too, give me some deep-seated moral conviction and the powerful, ground-shaking words to express it.
...On gay rights, they are choosing the mushy middle, on women's rights (speaking to a global audience) the mushy middle, on the Wall Street bailout, the mushy middle, on health care, the mushy middle. On civil liberties and secrecy, they are not even bothering with the mushy middle, but emulating Bush's extremism.
...The incessant drive to the 'pragmatic center', wherever that is, the desire to please an elusive and ephemeral audience, that worship of moderation, results in the squandering of a unique moment: with Republicans on their electoral heels and Democrats in control, this is the time for bold progressive stances and the unabashed embrace of core Democratic principles. This is not the time for wishy washy policies that seem politically smart but will in fact lead to the impression of an administration and a party devoid of convictions.
Thank you. The GOP is in crappy shape with the American public. Is this President going to wait until it starts clearly outraising the Democratic party and reforming itself to actually pay attention to the constituencies that helped Obama win the White House and build a Congressional majority? Apparently crapping on various loyal constituencies and either 1) telling them to wait, or 2) accept watered down policy as a "win" is the M.O. at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
I guess they are also willing to see the gAyTMs permanently out of order .Many of names and orgs cited in the infamous Tobias 10,400-sq.-foot spa" e-blast" have dropped out of that fundraiser and panic has to be in the air. Let's look at the running list from the email below the fold.
I know some people think Obama should not have been given the photo-op, but really, the story of anger by gays was already out there and wasn't about to be changed by that event. In fact, the next day, the story line in the media was along the lines of "president offers some little thing but gays just are not happy and are in fact more angry." So the photo-op did nothing, but LGBT leaders kept the dialogue open by going, which they should.
But now, a cocktail party? No, that's not business -- it's schmoozing and sucking up, and it's all about buying off gay leaders by seducing them, very cheaply, so the White House can help get the money coming back in, since the DNC gay fundraiser for next week is collapsing. Their response so far has only been about the money and it's not nearly enough.
What we need now is real action. Not these crumbs, whether it be the census inclusion or some benefits for federal employees. We need something big, and until then, the DNC fundraisers should continue to be threatened, and nobody among the gay leadership should be partying with this president.
You know, when I saw a video link posted in another thread by Blender RevBob, I got a strange feeling that today it's "like deja vu all over again" re: some of the behavior of LGBT leadership during this turmoil.
Does this remind you of anything occurring right now? It certainly doesn't have to be that way.
"Back during slavery, when Black people like me talked to the slaves, they didn't kill 'em, they sent some old house Negro along behind him to undo what he said. You have to read the history of slavery to understand this. There were two kinds of Negroes. There was that old house Negro and the field Negro.
And the house Negro always looked out for his master. When the field Negroes got too much out of line, he held them back in check. He put 'em back on the plantation. The house Negro could afford to do that because he lived better than the field Negro. He ate better, he dressed better, and he lived in a better house. He lived right up next to his master - in the attic or the basement. He ate the same food his master ate and wore his same clothes. And he could talk just like his master - good diction. And he loved his master more than his master loved himself. That's why he didn't want his master hurt. If the master got sick, he'd say, "What's the matter, boss, we sick?" When the master's house caught afire, he'd try and put the fire out. He didn't want his master's house burned. He never wanted his master's property threatened. And he was more defensive of it than the master was.
That was the house Negro. But then you had some field Negroes, who lived in huts, had nothing to lose. They wore the worst kind of clothes. They ate the worst food. And they caught hell. They felt the sting of the lash. They hated their master. Oh yes, they did. If the master got sick, they'd pray that the master died. If the master's house caught afire, they'd pray for a strong wind to come along. This was the difference between the two.
And today you still have house Negroes and field Negroes. I'm a field Negro."
"Under normal circumstances, all of this [Obama's mini health care benefits memo he signed last week for the gay partners of federal employees] would have been big news in the push for gay and lesbian civil rights. Instead, it has been derided as too little, too late. As if any of this would have happened with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the White House. I'm all for holding an ally's feet to the fire. But to not recognize and celebrate victories, no matter how "small," is maddeningly shortsighted in the long march to full equality.
"If gays and lesbians want big victories, such as the repeal of DOMA and the "don't ask don't tell" policy, they should focus their fire where it belongs: on Congress. Each bill will take 218 votes in the House and 60 in the Senate to reach the president's desk, and the votes aren't there yet. Saying no one is going to hand gay men and lesbians their rights, Berry told me, "We have to get out there and fight and get those votes." That won't be easy. But if last week's announcement is a sign that Obama will be vocal, persistent and public in his support, the fight can be won."
OK. Who said Congress shouldn't be held accountable? But where does it get its cues from -- the White House. Come on, we're not stupid. We've heard apologists say that Obama's rogue DOJ issued that brief without anyone in the WH knowing. Gee, when Bush was in the White House, we sure nailed the fact that Alberto Gonzales was working hand-in-glove with Dear Leader's constitutional wrecking crew at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. So which is it people? I'm tired of the excuses, and bad ones at that.
It's also confusing as to what Capehart's role is here -- is he speaking as a gay man writing in his capacity as a reporter for the WaPo (and who sits on its ed board), or speaking as a prominent member of the LGBT community? The line is very blurry; I tell you, this is also tiring because of the pious barbs thrown at citizen journalists/bloggers for expressing opinion in their writing/reporting. At least we're clear and honest about our advocacy and what we are representing.
Movement Malpractice?
And the new tally from the infamous Tobias 
If you can't make the date, take a rain check and help anyway? SUZE ORMAN just signed on that way. ELIZABETH BIRCH signed on that way. Lots of others.
